Page 58 of Passing Ships

“Nasty?”

“Camping? Yeah, no, thank you,” I say as I wrinkle my nose.

“Not a fan of adventure, Legs?”

“Adventure? Yes. Bugs, wild animals, peeing outside, and sleeping on the ground? Not so much,” I declare.

He leans his elbows onto the island and studies me as I tear into my second sugary confection of the morning.

“I bet I could change your mind.”

“About camping? Doubtful,” I say.

“Hiking in the Smokies, seeing the beautiful mountains, skinny-dipping in a crystal-clear river, showering under a waterfall,” he says, then lowers his voice so Leia doesn’t hear. “And making love under a blanket of stars.”

I meet his heated stare as I pop a piece of doughnut into my mouth and answer.

“Mmm, you lost me at hiking, Sailor,” I purr.

He reaches up and wipes powdered sugar from the corner of my mouth with his thumb.

“You don’t know what you’re missing, Legs.” He sucks the thumb into his mouth and winks before standing and making his way toward his room.

“Big talk for a man with hot-pink fingernails,” I shout after him. “And I do know what I’d miss. Electricity, air-conditioning, and indoor plumbing.”

His deep chuckle echoes down the hallway.

I glance at Avie who is watching his retreat. She turns back to me at the sound of his door closing behind him.

“Damn, now I kinda want Sebastian to take me camping.”

We both burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Leia asks, her forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“Uncle Lennon,” I say.

She nods.

“He’s so fun.”

“I bet he is,” Avie mutters under her breath.

He definitely is.

“Oh my God, you’re falling for him,” Avie gasps.

I look from where Sebastian and Lennon are swinging Leia into the oncoming waves to Avie, who is perched on the blanket beside me.

“I most certainly am not,” I protest.

“Yes, you are. You have that same goofy look on your face that you did when you fell for … what’s his name? The geeky guy who used to take you to those moody poetry bars.”

“Thomas?”

“That’s it. Thomas. You used to look at him that way,” she points out.

Thomas was a guy I dated in college. He was a bit nerdy, but there was something about his dark, broody temperament that turned me on.

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